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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23534833">An Interesting Display of Dinner and Medication</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnowyWalls/pseuds/SnowyWalls'>SnowyWalls</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work, Walls of White Snow</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Asylum, Dinner, Hospitals, Medication, Nurses, Original Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 16:14:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,057</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23534833</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnowyWalls/pseuds/SnowyWalls</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Carson Mandrake's first day as a nurse at The Drakill Home for the Insane, and luckily for him, the rather tiring day is almost over. Before he could go home, though, he has to make his way through the rather chaotic event of dinner. </p><p>Though he's trying to just focus on keeping his patients fed, that won't stop the unexpected from popping up and making quite the mess. Luckily, he has some help to get him through it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>An Interesting Display of Dinner and Medication</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first work here, so I apologize if the formatting is either strange or just completely chaotic. This is an idea I've been meaning to write out for a while, so I thought why not put it on here for others to see. All the characters portrayed here are my own and from my own universe. </p><p>I hope you enjoy, and criticism is welcomed in the comments!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As the loud, jarring sound of the bell rang over the loudspeaker system, it was somewhat of a warning. The day’s activities would be moving on, so it was time for patient and staff alike to move along to whatever was next on that particular day’s schedule. The sound of the bell was just as sudden as its appearance, a loud single tone that could barely be counted as the ringing of a bell that came in full force, cutting itself off before it had any chance to fade out. </p><p>The sound of the bell now reminded everyone that it was, in fact, 6 in the afternoon. This meant dinner, of course. There was only one period allotted for the patients to eat for each meal, so it was a take it or leave it situation. As all patients from all wards were to dine together, chaos in the situation was no less than expected. This was the last thing they were to do for the day before being put to bed, though after dinner there was an option given to each patient to get some fresh air in the courtyard for an hour before being put into their cells for the rest of the night. Those experienced with the world of The Drakill Home for the Insane had simply learned throughout their weeks, months, or years to simply tune out the relentless screaming and simply focus on doing their jobs. That, of course, being to make sure food was served and nobody ended up maimed or dead. </p><p>It was a job much easier said than done. </p><p>The Drakill Home for the Insane only had one cafeteria. A large room situated in the center of the first floor, surrounded by the areas dedicated to recreation such as a large doorway leading into the courtyard and garden, a library as a place for learning and study that was accompanied by a classroom for the younger patients to continue schooling, and a music room set with a large grand piano and other such instruments for the patients to indulge in. Now, though, all those rooms were to remain closed and empty as a slow crowd of uniformed individuals began making their way through the large double-doors and into the place where they were to be given their final meal of the day.</p><p>--</p><p>Carson Mandrake stood by the doors of the kitchen, having been brought here early by the kind nurse giving his orientation that day. He was to be shown around the building, ending with the cafeteria. She was currently on the other side of the kitchen door, one of three staff members assigned to cooking duty that week. Carson looked out over the clean room in front of him, smelling more of sanitation than food at the moment. The floors were a pristine white tile, as was the rest of the building. The wallpaper here was the same as well, walls with dark wood paneling, the top half being decorated with stripes of two different shades of grey. It looked homey, yet not at the same time. He assumed that it was an attempt to make the patients feel more like they were at an actual home than a hospital, but he would never be sure. Scattered around the center of the wide room were tables, resembling black picnic benches with four or five stools around them for seating. There were about ten of these tables, giving patients room to spread out from each other and sit with whoever they chose. Though, of course, patients did usually decide to sit with those that they shared a ward with.</p><p>As the patients made their way inside, Carson snapped to attention as he heard the voice of his guiding nurse calling his name.</p><p>"Hey, Mandrake!" She called to get his attention, making her way out of the kitchen, holding quite a few trays of food and moving to hand a few of them over to Carson.</p><p>"Melody." He greeted, taking the trays he was handed with a nod.</p><p>"You see that table over there? Those trays go to them." She pointed over to a table closer to the center, where three of the patients sat. Two of them seemed older, while one seemed like he couldn't be older than twelve. "They're from the children's ward. Go introduce yourself to them and chat after you've delivered the food. Me and the dumbasses can handle the rest." She motioned back into the kitchen with her thumb, letting out a chuckle as she caught the playful glares of the two men remaining in the kitchen. Carson had been introduced to them earlier. The man with short curly hair and glasses was Leonard, and the man with the long black braid running down his back had been introduced to him as Xavier.</p><p>"Good luck, rookie, have fun out there." Leonard teased as Carson took the trays and made his way over to the table he had been directed to. His voice was smooth, with a thick Russian accent coloring his words. Carson simply rolled his eyes as he approached the table and the figures sitting at it. </p><p>"Hey, I got food for you guys. Let's hang out a bit while you eat." Carson gave a small smile as he had finally gotten within speaking range of the patients sitting at the table. There had been an awkward pause before he finally spoke, kind of regretting the fact that that was the coolest thing that he could come up with. He tried to ignore the snicker from the patient closest to him, an older teenager with long brown hair tied back into a ponytail. Carson began to sit down, hoping to make up for the rather lame first impression.</p><p>The boy took two of the bowls from the trays, one containing a simple Caesar salad and the other containing a rather generous helping of chicken soup. He handed the soup to the person sitting next to him, who let out a rather happy sound upon receiving the meal. The boy looked up at Carson as he began mixing the lettuce and dressing together. There was an eyepatch over his left eye, and it was clear that not that he was properly facing the new nurse that he only had one arm, with which he held the fork stuck into his salad. "You the new nurse?" </p><p>Carson nodded as the other gave a quiet sigh before taking a bite of his salad. "Yep. Carson." He decided not to offer to shake hands.</p><p>"Rowen." The boy introduced himself. "That's Blue," he pointed to the man next to him, who seemed to really be enjoying his soup from the mess that his face was starting to become. He had long brown hair as well, though it wasn't pulled back and was obscuring the majority of his face. "And that's Henry." He pointed next to the youngest boy across from him, who gave Carson a shy wave as he took a bite from his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. With the small glance up that he gave to Carson, he noticed that Henry's eyes were a piercing shade of red. "Neither of them talk too much, so I'm the best bet you got for conversation." Rowen chuckled, taking another bite of his salad. He seemed rather indifferent to Carson's presence, voice remaining smooth and calm through the introductions as if he had done this hundreds of times throughout his stay at the Home. </p><p>Though they had a fairly awkward start, Carson was soon able to indulge in conversation with Rowen and his friends, finding them to be fairly interesting people. He helped Blue wipe his face when the soup had gotten a bit too messy on his face and the table, much to the relief of Rowen being allowed to continue his meal instead of stopping to help the other. Carson was actually starting to enjoy himself for the first time on this rather busy and stressful orientation day, but as the three before him were just about finished with their meals, he knew just something would happen to interrupt the short moment of peace that he had gotten to experience. </p><p>Although he was expecting it, he jumped pretty hard when he heard the screaming start.</p><p>Although Carson had been rather caught off guard and surprised, taking a quick look around showed that no one else seemed to be reacting the same way that he was. Noticing the look of sheer confusion as to why he was the only one reacting, Rowen decided to give a bit more explanation to the situation. "That's just Christopher. It happens like, every fucking day." He rolled his eye, taking a pause when he saw Melody beginning to approach their table. He let out a short chuckle. "Girlfriend wants you." </p><p>Carson turned to look at Melody just as she grabbed his arm to get him up from the table. The look on her face was calm as ever too. Apparently this was an almost daily occurrence. She began to pull him toward a back corner of the room, where the screaming was coming from. When they finally approached the source, Carson was met with a man covering his face with his thin hands, black hair streaming into his face as he cried and was seeming to utter words that weren't exactly coherent.</p><p>Melody let go of Carson's arm, only to move and grab onto the arm of who he could only assume was the aforementioned Christopher. "Grab his other arm and help me get him out, please. We need to take him to his room." Though her voice remained the cheery bubblegum tone she had kept throughout the rest of the day, the small sigh that she let out afterwords did nothing to hide her irritation with the situation.</p><p>Carson did as he was told, quickly grabbing onto the unstable man's other arm and helping Melody to pull him up off of the stool he sat in, then redirecting their walking path to the still open double-doors of the cafeteria. It was a struggle getting the man up to his room on the second floor, as Christopher's legs seemed to refuse to walk along with them, simply dragging against the ground as if his socks were supposed to be sweeping the dirt off of it. He was brought into his cell eventually, and Carson couldn't help but notice Melody's relieved sigh as she helped the patient down into his bed.</p><p>The sigh seemed to come from not only the weight of the man no longer being her problem, and the fact that there was already a syringe, a few pills, and a small paper cup of water sitting on a similar tray to those used in the cafeteria waiting for them on the small table in the center of the cell. Carson stood by the door, not quite sure what to do as he watched Melody administer the man his medicine. Luckily, it seemed that the combination of the quiet of his private room and the soft way Melody spoke and instructed him to swallow the pills with the water seemed to be letting his cries slowly die down and the screaming become nothing more than a memory. He couldn't help but think it was quite pitiful to see someone in this state. </p><p>Melody snapped him out of his little trance when her voice became louder once more and was much clearer as she was now speaking to him. "Ready to get back to work?"</p><p>--</p><p>Looking down at the now cleaned tables around the cafeteria, Carson couldn't help but let out a sigh. The chaos was over, the patients were gone, and now he was finally allowed to take a breath as he wiped the last bit of food off of the last table that he had been assigned to clean.</p><p>He leaned against the wall with a short sigh after throwing away the last bit of paper towel he had used, finally letting himself relax as he assumed that the day was over for him. That was until he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up at the familiar face of Xavier, an almost sadistic smirk on his face as he spoke.</p><p>"Ready to watch them in the courtyard?"</p>
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